I have a 9 month old beagle, curious if anyone has any experience training a dog to run rabbits or other small game?
I've been around coonhounds most of my life, so although I have some experience I think this will be alot different. Not sure where to start with him.

Appreciate any advice.

Attached File


Pic of my boy

I don’t know anything about hunting dogs, but I want to squeeze him and pet his ears, I bet they’re super soft. Love your pic of him.

I have 3 beagles at the moment. I've never had to train them. I guess if you want to make sure they only run one kind of game you might have to condition them.

We were members of a dog hunting club for years. I interact with my dogs and they seemed to know if it was time to run deer or if they could just have fun and track things. They seem to do better with a pal, they are pack oriented.

Some hunters think if you interact with or feed your dogs they won't hunt but their dogs didn't seem to know what to do when they were put on a blood trail. Ours knew just what was expected and found people's deer even in places they didn't think they went to.

You might be able to find someone with a puppy pen where they can trail rabbits.

I have the Garmin Astro 320 to keep an eye on my babies. We don't belong to a club anymore but they will find every mole, squirrel, possum or snake in the yard.

Find a started dog to run him with. A good beagle will pick it up quickly but sometimes needs a nudge or someone to compete with. Find a place with lots of rabbits and let him run. Don't worry about shooting just get him out. A young beagle is a joy to watch learn and grow.

I was in the U.P. of Michigan a few years back and I was amazed at the number of Beagle Clubs up there.  It seemed like every turn had a clubhouse and a fenced area to keep dogs in during the "meetings".  I suspect some of those guys hang out on arfcom.  Find one or two and arrange a week long training session with them at their club.

OR

Look up one of these guys.   Beagle Clubs in Michigan

OR here are these guys in Kansas.

Eastern Kansas Beagle Club

I love my Beagles.
Best to start them early.
Like everything, YouTube is loaded with training videos.

good looking boy.

Find some place with lots of bunnies and let him do his thing. I always tried to find a place where he trip over one to start the fun. Maybe near a garden or someone's yard. Since you are not "hunting" this can be in the burbs or even a landscaping place in the offseason. I've had people that wouldn't let me hunt their property but had no problem letting me run my beagles. Most people like beagles and enjoy seeing them work. The more he's out the more he will pick up what he's supposed to do. Eventually it should click then it's just building on experience. A bell on his collar will help you keep track of him and keep other game like deer from getting too close. Even my best beagles would run a deer if it jumped up right in front of them. They are all knuckleheads and can't resist a good sight chase.

I don't have any training advice. But I know a dog trainer that said he had a beagle as a kid and shot more birds and rabbits over that dog than any he has had since. He now raises Welsh Springers.

I let my boy do his thing. He'll run anything edible. Just a predator.

Train your dog to know what pointing your gun means, and train yourself to read what his pointing means.

Make him a part of the pack, give him reason to respect and honor you, and he'll always hunt.

I go shoot a rabbit & play w/ the dog. Get him all nice & riled up, play tug of war w/ it, let him get nutty w/ it. Have someone drag the rabbit on the ground & let the dog go find it, etc.. We have done it this way since my Dad was a kid. Now, if someone could tell me how to break them from chasing deer...